Victor Campenaerts shares statement on pee bottle: "Accusations might be true"

The organizers of the Giro d'Italia recently made a striking appeal to the riders: do not pee in your bidon and then throw it away. Colleagues pointed to Victor Campenaerts as the 'inventor' of the so-called pee bidon, but the Belgian initially said he knew nothing about it. In his latest vlog on Instagram, captioned 'pee-gate statement', he revisits the topic.

"Due to the many questions, I will explain the pee bidon," Campenaerts begins from the Visma | Lease a Bike team bus. "In most countries, public urination is illegal. Also, there are lots of spectators lining the roadside. So my solution was: I pee in a bidon, so I don't have to pee in someone's front yard or on people standing by the road. I urinated in your bidon and then returned it to the team car. So there were only good intentions."

"Unfortunately, we don't have pee zones or toilets by the roadside like you see in triathlon races. In long races lasting five, six, or even seven hours, that can be challenging. But the UCI has now banned urinating in a bidon, so you will never see me do it again. The accusations that I am the 'inventor' might be true," Campenaerts laughs. "But it is now forbidden, so it won't happen anymore."

Vingegaard and Kuss
In the video, Jonas Vingegaard and Sepp Kuss also share their views. Vingegaard himself does not pee in bidons but understands Campenaerts. "It's better than peeing right in front of the public," says the Dane. "They don't see your... thing then."

A laughing Kuss adds: "I once saw someone pee in his bidon during the queen stage of the Tour. I don’t think anyone was offended. If anyone saw it, they were probably impressed by the skill, cleanliness, and hygiene, I think."